Distribution and Habitat: Lemon sharks favor environments with warm coastal water and rocky or sandy bottomed substrates. Lemon sharks also tend to favor areas with lots of mangrove estuarine environments, although they do tend to avoid areas covered in various species of sea grass. Mangrove estuaries are extremely important for Lemon shark development for they play a perfect safe haven for young or new born Lemons. By hiding and hunting throughout the mangroves these young sharks avoid predation from their much larger relatives. Lemon sharks are also known for being a live bearing species of shark (IE they give birth to their young instead of laying eggs.) Lemon sharks are found primarily in the Americas Tropical and Subtropical waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. They are also found of the coast of Western Africa in the Atlantic. Areas known to harbor Lemon sharks include: Coastal Atlantic United States, Mexico, Caribbean, Mid to Southern South America, Eastern Pacific California, and Ecuador. Lemon sharks cruise tropical and subtropical waters of coral reefs, bays, inlets, islands, channels, and river mouths. On rare occasions the Lemon has also been sighted in the Tropical open ocean although this is thought to be only during migrations. Although known to swim up rivers they do not venture very far into fresh water.

Anatomy and Appearance: The Lemon shark is most notable for its yellow or goldish coloration. Since this shark spends the majority of its time swimming over sandy colored substrates its coloration acts as a perfect camouflage. The Lemon shark does display counter shading with a slightly lighter/white ventral side. Its body shape includes a broad round snout with a wedge shaped head. The body although long is built more for cruising than for speed swimming. The Lemon shark also has a second dorsal fin nearly as large as its primary dorsal fin which allows it more maneuverability in shallow water. The lemon shark commonly attains a length of 2.4 to 3.1 m (7.9 to 10.2 ft) and a weight of up to 90 kg (200 lb) by adulthood, although sexual maturity is attained at 2.24 m (7.3 ft) in males and 2.4 m (7.9 ft) in females. The maximum recorded length and weight is 3.43 m (11.3 ft) and 183.7 kg (405 lb). Another notable feature of the Lemon shark is its almost cat like golden eyes. These eyes are built to filter in even the most minute rays of light to allow the shark amazing vision in low light environments.

Diet, Hunting and Feeding Behavior: Lemon sharks are fairly social animals usually living in large groups both for protection and hunting. Lemon sharks have also been known to live alongside other species of shark sometimes cooperating as hunting partners although scavenging is more common. They are considered one of the most intelligent shark species often using memory and judgement of individual incidents to learn. They are capable of shape and individual recognition and have been claimed by scientists to have an intelligence level equal to some species of parrots. Lemon sharks dine primarily on various fish species inhabiting their coastal environments, but have also been known to feed on: crustaceans, benthic organisms, and sea birds. Lemons are mostly active at night tending to do most of their hunting between dusk and dawn. When hunting Lemon sharks stalk their prey for a lengthy time to then suddenly rush them. Once rushed they sharply brake with their pectoral fins and lunge forward until establishing a good grasp upon prey. The Lemon then violently shakes its head from side to side tearing off a sizable chunk of flesh.

Lol, im working on that! Some of these photos are not my own work and are just representative for the animal or subject I am writing about. (The image will have a note at the bottom). My own photos I just haven't gotten around to putting up as prints.

Sure i mena no actually you left me pretty much without anyidea of what the i mean i was just so surprised by the pictureitself i might not be able to buy a print right now but was lovelyand wanted to show it to the whole world, friends you know that stuff..

And sadly nothing i mean it may not be a great background in my roombut i believe alot of people would kill some greens for something so wow.

I find different representations of specific species all over really, some from other scientific articles I read, some from fellow scientists I know or work alongside, some from very good online sources (fishing sights, etc.), the majority of the photos posted in my adventures album are all my own work, the shark gallery is just the best physiological picture I can find of that particular animal. Unfortunately my work hasn't allowed me to visit all the places/waters to take every species pictures myself. Any pictures that are not my own work have a note at the bottom saying they were taken from various sources or online. Hope all that answers everything!

So let me see if I got this. You are a scientist and know several other scientist. Not only that but a majority of those photos you took your self? If I got this what not only am I impressed but also envois. I would not be as calm being in the water with a shark. Also what's it like being a scientist?

Lol, thank you for your compliments. Most of the photos in my gallery that were taken by me are from recent trips to Panama and various parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. My specialty is Shark Behavior,Physiology, Biochemistry and Environmental Impacts. I am currently working towards my phD. I have been head over heels for sharks since I was a little kid (weird I know). Its wonderful being a scientist but it has its ups and downs for sure just like every job. Sometimes you spend hours in the cold or water with bugs, bad weather, or other crappy things. Its wonderful diving and spending time with animals like sharks. They are truly natures perfect predators and get a really bad rap from the public media. Just because an animal is wild and has the ability to be dangerous doesn't mean they are villainous or malicious. Sharks simply act like sharks. They are not evil and don't have an agenda to try and hurt people. Most of the time they are just very very curious and want to come check out what we are up to underwater since humans are so alien to them. Most attacks are either mistaken identity on the sharks part or antagonism on the humans part. Even very large sharks are extremely cautious of us divers underwater and tend to be too skid-dish to approach at all.

Every once in a while they do. It really depends on what they are experts in or what types of research they are conducting. So I suppose if you happen to be a doctor for shark bite trama and need an ID on a bite wound we might. lol.